1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a magnifying display apparatus for displaying enlarged images of characters and patterns printed on, for example, newspapers or characters which are being written by the user.
2. Description of the Related Art
A magnifying display apparatus has been known in which enlarged images of characters and so forth which are to be read by a reader having a weak eyesight or ordinary reader are displayed on a television screen.
The known magnifying display apparatus has a display device such as a television placed on a support such as a small table and a reading device disposed under the television, the reading unit having, for example, a television camera including a magnifying optical system for reading and magnifying the original image. Thus, the television and the reading means are constructed as a module. The user places the original to be read under the reading device and moves the original relative to the reading device while reading the enlarged images displayed on the television screen. Obviously, this apparatus can be used for displaying, in a greater scale, characters which are being written by the user.
This known magnifying display apparatus suffers from disadvantages in that it has only a limited portability because the display device and the reading device are constructed as a module and in that the user is obliged to move the original because the reading device is stationary.
In order to obviate these problems, the present inventors have already proposed an improved magnifying display apparatus in which the reading device and the display device are separated from each other and the reading device is further decomposed into a photoelectric reading unit and a controller which are of small sizes, thus enhancing the portability of the apparatus.
This improved magnifying display apparatus, therefore, has a photoelectric-converting reading unit including a body and an optical system disposed in the body and having a light-path inversion prism, a magnifier lens system, an iris, an imaging device and illuminating lamp, a controller connected to the reading unit through a cord and including a power supply circuit for the reading unit and also a control circuit for controlling the conversion of the output from the imaging device into an image output, and a display unit such as a television separably connected to the controller through a cord.
This improved magnifying display apparatus is easy to carry by virtue of separation of the display unit and the reading unit form each other, and exhibits an excellent magnifying performance, but is still unsatisfactory in that it is not easy to handle.